A name was given to the male child at the time of its
circumcision, but it is probable, previous to the introduction of that
rite, that the name was given immediately after its birth. Among the
orientals the appellations given as names are always significant. In the
Old Testament, we find that the child was named in many instances from
the circumstances of its birth, or from some peculiarities in the
history of the family to which it belonged, Gen. xvi, 11; xix, 37; xxv,
25, 26; Exod. ii, 10; xviii, 3, 4. Frequently the name was a compound
one, one part being the name of the Deity, and among idolatrous nations
the name of an idol. The following instances may be mentioned among
others, and may stand as specimens of the whole, namely, שמואל,
_Samuel_, hear God;” אדניה, _Adonijah_, God is lord;” יהוצדק,
_Josedech_, God is just;” אתבעל, _Ethbaal_, a Canaanitish name, the
latter part of the compound being the name of the idol deity, Baal;
בלשאצר, _Belshazzar_, Bel,” a Babylonish deity, is ruler and king.”
Sometimes the name had a prophetic meaning, Gen. xvii, 15; Isa. vii, 14;
viii, 3; Hos. i, 4, 6, 9; Matt. i, 21; Luke i, 13, 60, 63. In the later
times names were selected from those of the progenitors of a family;
hence in the New Testament hardly any other than ancient names occur,
Matt. i, 12; Luke i, 61; iii, 23, &c. The inhabitants of the east very
frequently change their names, and sometimes do it for very slight
reasons. This accounts for the fact of so many persons having two names
in Scripture, Ruth i, 20, 21; 1 Sam. xiv, 49; xxxi, 2; 1 Chron. x, 2;
Judges vi, 32; vii, 1; 2 Sam. xxiii, 8. Kings and princes very often
changed the names of those who held offices under them, particularly
when they first attracted their notice, and were taken into their
employ, and when subsequently they were elevated to some new station,
and crowned with additional honours, Gen. xli, 45; xvii, 5; xxxii, 28;
xxxv, 10; 2 Kings xxiii, 34, 35; xxiv, 17; Dan. i, 6; John i, 42; Mark
iii, 17. Hence a name, a new name, occurs tropically, as a token or
proof of distinction and honour in the following among other passages,
Phil. ii, 9; Heb. i, 4; Rev. ii, 17. Sometimes the names of the dead
were changed; for instance that of Abel, הבל, a word which signifies
breath, or something transitory as a breath, given to him after his
death, in allusion to the shortness of his life, Gen. ii, 8. Sometimes
proper names are translated into other languages, losing their original
form, while they preserve their signification. This appears to have been
the case with the proper names, which occur in the first eleven chapters
of Genesis, and which were translated into the Hebrew from a language
still more ancient. The orientals in some instances, in order to
distinguish themselves from others of the same name, added to their own
name the name of their father, grandfather, and even great grandfather.
The name of God often signifies God himself; sometimes his attributes
collectively; sometimes his power and authority. Of the Messiah it is
said, And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King
of kings, and Lord of lords,” Rev. xix, 16. In illustration of this it
may be remarked, that it appears to have been an ancient custom among
several nations, to adorn the images of their deities, princes, victors
at their public games, and other eminent persons, with inscriptions
expressive of their names, character, titles, or some circumstance which
might contribute to their honour. There are several such images yet
extant, with an inscription written either on the garment, or one of the
thighs. Herodotus mentions two figures of Sesostris, king of Egypt, cut
upon rocks in Ionia, after his conquest of that country, with the
following inscription across the breast, extending from one shoulder to
the other: I conquered this country by the force of my arms.” Gruter has
published a naked statue made of marble, and supposed to represent the
genius either of some Roman emperor, or of Antinöus, who was deified by
Hadrian, with an inscription on the inside of the right thigh, written
perpendicularly in Roman letters, and containing the names of three
persons. Near the statue, on the same side of it, stands an oval shield
with the names of two other persons written round the rim in letters of
the same form. In the appendix to Dempster’s _Etruria Regalis_” is a
female image of brass, clothed in a loose tunic down to the feet, with a
shorter garment over it, on the right side of which is a perpendicular
inscription in Etrurian characters, extending partly on the lower
garment. This figure, from the diadem on the head, and other
circumstances which accompany it, Philip Bonarota, the editor of that
work, supposes to have been designed for some Etrurian deity. Montfaucon
has given us a male image of the same metal, dressed in a tunic, and
over that another vestment something like a Roman toga, reaching to the
middle of the legs, on the bottom of which is an Etrurian inscription
written horizontally. There are likewise in both those writers two male
figures crowned with laurel, which Montfaucon calls combatants, as the
laurel was an emblem of victory. But Bonarota takes one of them for an
image of Apollo, which has a chain round the neck, a garment wrapped
over the right arm, and a bracelet on the left, with half boots on the
legs; the rest of the body being naked has an Etrurian inscription
written downward in two lines on the inside of the left thigh. The other
figure has the lower part of the body clothed in a loose vestment, with
an inscription upon it over the right thigh, perpendicularly written in
Roman letters, which Bonarota has thus expressed in a more distinct
manner than they appear in Montfaucon: POMPONIO VIRIO I. To these may be
added from Montfaucon, a marble statue of a naked combatant, with a
fillet about his head in token of victory. It is drawn in two views, one
exhibiting the back and the other the fore part of the body, the latter
of which has in Greek letters, ΚΑΦΙΣΟΔΟΡΟΣ for ΚΑΦΙΣΟΔΩΡΟΣ,
perpendicularly inscribed on the outside of the left thigh; and the
former the name ΑΙΣΧΛΑΜΙΟΥ in the like characters and situation on the
right thigh; these together make one inscription signifying
_Caphisodorus filius Æschlamii_. [Caphisodorus the son of Æschlamius.]
circumcision, but it is probable, previous to the introduction of that
rite, that the name was given immediately after its birth. Among the
orientals the appellations given as names are always significant. In the
Old Testament, we find that the child was named in many instances from
the circumstances of its birth, or from some peculiarities in the
history of the family to which it belonged, Gen. xvi, 11; xix, 37; xxv,
25, 26; Exod. ii, 10; xviii, 3, 4. Frequently the name was a compound
one, one part being the name of the Deity, and among idolatrous nations
the name of an idol. The following instances may be mentioned among
others, and may stand as specimens of the whole, namely, שמואל,
_Samuel_, hear God;” אדניה, _Adonijah_, God is lord;” יהוצדק,
_Josedech_, God is just;” אתבעל, _Ethbaal_, a Canaanitish name, the
latter part of the compound being the name of the idol deity, Baal;
בלשאצר, _Belshazzar_, Bel,” a Babylonish deity, is ruler and king.”
Sometimes the name had a prophetic meaning, Gen. xvii, 15; Isa. vii, 14;
viii, 3; Hos. i, 4, 6, 9; Matt. i, 21; Luke i, 13, 60, 63. In the later
times names were selected from those of the progenitors of a family;
hence in the New Testament hardly any other than ancient names occur,
Matt. i, 12; Luke i, 61; iii, 23, &c. The inhabitants of the east very
frequently change their names, and sometimes do it for very slight
reasons. This accounts for the fact of so many persons having two names
in Scripture, Ruth i, 20, 21; 1 Sam. xiv, 49; xxxi, 2; 1 Chron. x, 2;
Judges vi, 32; vii, 1; 2 Sam. xxiii, 8. Kings and princes very often
changed the names of those who held offices under them, particularly
when they first attracted their notice, and were taken into their
employ, and when subsequently they were elevated to some new station,
and crowned with additional honours, Gen. xli, 45; xvii, 5; xxxii, 28;
xxxv, 10; 2 Kings xxiii, 34, 35; xxiv, 17; Dan. i, 6; John i, 42; Mark
iii, 17. Hence a name, a new name, occurs tropically, as a token or
proof of distinction and honour in the following among other passages,
Phil. ii, 9; Heb. i, 4; Rev. ii, 17. Sometimes the names of the dead
were changed; for instance that of Abel, הבל, a word which signifies
breath, or something transitory as a breath, given to him after his
death, in allusion to the shortness of his life, Gen. ii, 8. Sometimes
proper names are translated into other languages, losing their original
form, while they preserve their signification. This appears to have been
the case with the proper names, which occur in the first eleven chapters
of Genesis, and which were translated into the Hebrew from a language
still more ancient. The orientals in some instances, in order to
distinguish themselves from others of the same name, added to their own
name the name of their father, grandfather, and even great grandfather.
The name of God often signifies God himself; sometimes his attributes
collectively; sometimes his power and authority. Of the Messiah it is
said, And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King
of kings, and Lord of lords,” Rev. xix, 16. In illustration of this it
may be remarked, that it appears to have been an ancient custom among
several nations, to adorn the images of their deities, princes, victors
at their public games, and other eminent persons, with inscriptions
expressive of their names, character, titles, or some circumstance which
might contribute to their honour. There are several such images yet
extant, with an inscription written either on the garment, or one of the
thighs. Herodotus mentions two figures of Sesostris, king of Egypt, cut
upon rocks in Ionia, after his conquest of that country, with the
following inscription across the breast, extending from one shoulder to
the other: I conquered this country by the force of my arms.” Gruter has
published a naked statue made of marble, and supposed to represent the
genius either of some Roman emperor, or of Antinöus, who was deified by
Hadrian, with an inscription on the inside of the right thigh, written
perpendicularly in Roman letters, and containing the names of three
persons. Near the statue, on the same side of it, stands an oval shield
with the names of two other persons written round the rim in letters of
the same form. In the appendix to Dempster’s _Etruria Regalis_” is a
female image of brass, clothed in a loose tunic down to the feet, with a
shorter garment over it, on the right side of which is a perpendicular
inscription in Etrurian characters, extending partly on the lower
garment. This figure, from the diadem on the head, and other
circumstances which accompany it, Philip Bonarota, the editor of that
work, supposes to have been designed for some Etrurian deity. Montfaucon
has given us a male image of the same metal, dressed in a tunic, and
over that another vestment something like a Roman toga, reaching to the
middle of the legs, on the bottom of which is an Etrurian inscription
written horizontally. There are likewise in both those writers two male
figures crowned with laurel, which Montfaucon calls combatants, as the
laurel was an emblem of victory. But Bonarota takes one of them for an
image of Apollo, which has a chain round the neck, a garment wrapped
over the right arm, and a bracelet on the left, with half boots on the
legs; the rest of the body being naked has an Etrurian inscription
written downward in two lines on the inside of the left thigh. The other
figure has the lower part of the body clothed in a loose vestment, with
an inscription upon it over the right thigh, perpendicularly written in
Roman letters, which Bonarota has thus expressed in a more distinct
manner than they appear in Montfaucon: POMPONIO VIRIO I. To these may be
added from Montfaucon, a marble statue of a naked combatant, with a
fillet about his head in token of victory. It is drawn in two views, one
exhibiting the back and the other the fore part of the body, the latter
of which has in Greek letters, ΚΑΦΙΣΟΔΟΡΟΣ for ΚΑΦΙΣΟΔΩΡΟΣ,
perpendicularly inscribed on the outside of the left thigh; and the
former the name ΑΙΣΧΛΑΜΙΟΥ in the like characters and situation on the
right thigh; these together make one inscription signifying
_Caphisodorus filius Æschlamii_. [Caphisodorus the son of Æschlamius.]